The UCAT exam is soon, what if you haven't started preparing yet?

With the UCAT fast approaching on July 26th, if you haven’t started preparing already it is time to get a hustle on! But don’t stress just yet because you still have a month and a half and there is plenty you can do in a short time to get yourself prepared. Unlike those that started UCAT preparation months ago however, you will need to dedicate more time and effort over the next few weeks to get yourself up to scratch.

 

The first step is getting yourself familiar with the UCAT 2026 by understanding the UCAT exam format, content and logic behind why the UCAT is important. A lot of people don’t understand why the UCAT is important and struggle to see why it plays such an important role in selection into undergraduate medicine programs. Before you get started, have a read of this blog that explains the purpose of the UCAT exam. By understanding why it is important, you can start to think like an examiner and this will help you to see the logic behind questions in the UCAT.

 

Here are a few simple tips for getting your preparation on track for the coming weeks.

 

1. Keep a strict timetable from TODAY – Treat UCAT study like another job and schedule yourself shifts. You should be aiming for a 20 hour week at this stage in the UCAT game if you have only just started preparing. Break it up and try not to overwhelm yourself. If you need help turning that time into focused practice, a free UCAT study plan can give you a practical starting point.

 

2. UCAT study has to become a priority – in order to get yourself prepared in a month and a half, you are going to have to make sacrifices. Generally if you had started preparing at the beginning of the year, I would recommend dedicating one day of the weekend and a couple of weekday afternoons to UCAT study. However if today is your first day of preparation, you have to look at pulling a few months into one, so maybe using one and half days of the weekend and an afternoon or two throughout the week might be the way to go! The thing with UCAT is that cramming won’t help. You have to dedicate time to practice practice practice!

 

3. Break it up into sections – Work out what you need to do for each section. Use these as a guide and start working through the list.

   • Section 1: Practice questions, interpreting graphs and tables and speed reading, especially for UCAT verbal reasoning tasks.

 

• • Section 2: Make a vocabulary list and start trying to understand how other people might think in different situations. This is especially useful for UCAT situational judgement, where you need to assess realistic scenarios quickly. Your vocabulary list can look something like this:

 

Happy	Sad	Angry	Confused	Excited
Cheerful Delighted Merry Joyful Elated	Melancholic Pessimistic Bitter Depressed Somber	Indignant Impassioned Irate Exasperated Sullen	Baffled Pertubed Perplexed Dazed Befuddled	Inspired Enthusiastic Hysterical Delighted Ecstatic

 

• Section 3: Get your hands on some practice questions and start trying to make some questions yourself

 

No matter where you are on your UCAT journey, if you commit enough time and effort to your preparation, you will be in good shape come UCAT day. With the finish line so close, don’t lose your motivation and drive yourself to be the most confident person walking into that exam centre. Good luck and get studying!